The Spy War: How the CIA Helps Ukraine Fight Putin

This NYT’s article is extensive or via Archive.ph

Adam Entous and Michael Schwirtz conducted more than 200 interviews in Ukraine, several other European countries and the United States to report this story.

Do notice the perception managing headline? Acknowledgment of US involvement in the fight on the side of a nation. All of Ukraine against Putin? It’s been obvious from the get go this is a proxy war, where Ukrainians are being used to fight for American interests. And it goes without saying Ukraine is not fighting Putin. Perhaps the headline should read the CIA helps Zelensky fight Putin? You know individual vs individual? As has been said repeatedly here, the media manages perceptions, always. But facts can be gleaned out of these articles, we’ll read some of those below

“discreet passageway descends to a subterranean bunker where teams of Ukrainian soldiers track Russian spy satellites and eavesdrop on conversations between Russian commanders. On one screen, a red line followed the route of an explosive drone threading through Russian air defenses from a point in central Ukraine to a target in the Russian city of Rostov.
The underground bunker, built to replace the destroyed command center in the months after Russia’s invasion, is a secret nerve center of Ukraine’s military.
There is also one more secret: The base is almost fully financed, and partly equipped, by the C.I.A.”

The CIA is embedded with Ukrainian soldiers/intelligence officers to spy on Russian commanders

“The intelligence partnership between Washington and Kyiv is a linchpin of Ukraine’s ability to defend itself. The C.I.A. and other American intelligence agencies provide intelligence for targeted missile strikes, track Russian troop movements and help support spy networks.
But the partnership is no wartime creation, nor is Ukraine the only beneficiary”

The CIA is not the only intelligence agency embedded with Ukrainian forces. This partnership was founded prior to to 2022. Ukraine is not the only beneficiary. The US clearly benefits and this is acknowledged in the article

“It took root a decade ago”

In 2014- The year the western backed coup took place.

“It has transformed Ukraine, whose intelligence agencies were long seen as thoroughly compromised by Russia, into one of Washington’s most important intelligence partners against the Kremlin today.”

The listening post is part of a “Supported network of spy bases constructed in the past eight years that includes 12 secret locations along the Russian border.”

“Around 2016, the C.I.A. began training an elite Ukrainian commando force — known as Unit 2245 “

Contrary to the western media perception of Russia having no justification or need for their special military operation… We have acknowledgment of a network of 12 spy bases along the Ukraine/Russian border and the training of elite commandos- Could be a cause for concern?

One officer in the unit was Kyrylo Budanov, now the general leading Ukraine’s military intelligence.

The direct connection between US and Ukraine intelligence- Budanov.

“And the C.I.A. also helped train a new generation of Ukrainian spies who operated inside Russia, across Europe, and in Cuba and other places where the Russians have a large presence.”

Cuba? Interesting. So, Ukrainians passing themselves off as Russian engaging in destabilizing tactics in Cuba that can be blamed on Russia?

The relationship is so ingrained that C.I.A. officers remained at a remote location in western Ukraine when the Biden administration evacuated U.S. personnel in the weeks before Russia invaded in February 2022.

Mr. Putin has long blamed Western intelligence agencies for manipulating Kyiv and sowing anti-Russia sentiment in Ukraine.

Clearly Putin is not wrong!!

“Toward the end of 2021, according to a senior European official, Mr. Putin was weighing whether to launch his full-scale invasion when he met with the head of one of Russia’s main spy services, who told him that the C.I.A., together with Britain’s MI6, were controlling Ukraine and turning it into a beachhead for operations against Moscow.”

Based on the info in this article it sure looks as if Ukraine was being turned into a beachhead for operations against Russia

The NYT’s is presenting this as a partnership the Ukrainians wanted but the US was reluctant to provide- I don’t believe that for a second!

A Secret Santa

In the reshuffle, General Kondratiuk was appointed as the head of the country’s military intelligence agency, known as the HUR, where years earlier he had started his career.
HUR had the authority to collect intelligence outside the country, including in Russia.

General Kondratiuk arranged a meeting with his American counterpart at the Defense Intelligence Agency and handed over a stack of secret Russian documents.

General Kondratiuk visited the C.I.A. headquarters in Langley, Va. In those meetings, he met a C.I.A. officer with a jolly demeanor and a bushy beard who had been tapped to become the next station chief in Kyiv. (Read more at link)

Operation Goldfish

Today, the narrow road leading to the secret base is framed by minefields, seeded as a line of defense in the weeks after Russia’s invasion. The Russian missiles that hit the base had seemingly shut it down, but just weeks later the Ukrainians returned.

With money and equipment provided by the C.I.A., crews under General Dvoretskiy’s command began to rebuild, but underground.
Beyond the base, the C.I.A. also oversaw a training program, carried out in two European cities, to teach Ukrainian intelligence officers how to convincingly assume fake personas and steal secrets in Russia and other countries that are adept at rooting out spies.

The program was called Operation Goldfish, which derived from a joke about a Russian-speaking goldfish who offers two Estonians wishes in exchange for its freedom

The punchline was that one of the Estonians bashed the fish’s head with a rock, explaining that anything speaking Russian could not be trusted.

The Operation Goldfish officers were soon deployed to 12 newly-built, forward operating bases constructed along the Russian border. From each base, General Kondratiuk said, the Ukrainian officers ran networks of agents who gathered intelligence inside Russia.

Budanov (operation undertaken on Obama’s watch)

Disguised in Russian uniforms, then-Lt. Col. Budanov led commandos across a narrow gulf in inflatable speedboats, landing at night in Crimea.

But an elite Russian commando unit was waiting for them. The Ukrainians fought back, killing several Russian fighters, including the son of a general, before retreating to the shoreline, plunging into the sea and swimming for hours to Ukrainian-controlled territory.

It was a disaster.

Read entirely at the links provided- If you find anything else specifically of interest- leave it in the comments!